


The elephant in the room

by AngelaChristian



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: BDSM, Coming Out, Family Issues, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Male Slash, Self-Denial, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 03:01:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/844546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelaChristian/pseuds/AngelaChristian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik’s not the only one, who’s got issues...prequel to “Stick and carrot”   !!!  updated again and finished !!! Five more pages !!! the days of futur past included</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The elefant in the room

Title: The elephant in the room  
Genre: slash, dark fic, BDSM  
Fandom: X-Men: first class  
Pairing: Charles/Erik  
Rating: NC-17  
Warning: sexual violence, BDSM  
Disclaimer: X-Men belongs to Marvel comics, I don’t make money with this.  
Summary: Erik’s not the only one, who’s got issues...prequel to “Stick and carrot”

 

The elephant in the room  
It was there…it was there like a background noise, when he read their minds. Some were afraid to be one of them, some denied it, some tried to hide it and some were repulsed by the mere idea of its existence. Charles was one of them, therefore those thoughts and attitudes were directed at him as well. One more reason why he couldn’t be open about it. The public would reject him and the school, he was about to found, even more than they might already do. His parents never presumed anything, his stepfather was to occupied with his research projects and his mother had to deal with problems of her own and Raven, his adopted-sister was also clueless. Charles wondered, why she didn’t draw the right conclusions and always believed his excuses like he was too busy or just unlucky in this area. At first, he believed in them as well, those were obvious reasons, but after meeting Erik, he couldn’t lie to himself anymore.  
Erik was standing in the almost dark kitchen, drinking a glass of milk, when Charles entered the room. He turned around, when he heard his approaching footsteps.  
“Still up that late ?” Charles asked.  
“I couldn’t sleep and got me a glass of milk, I hope you don’t mind.”  
“No, I don’t. I was looking for milk, too. Is there still some left ?”  
“Sure.” Erik walked over to the fridge, opened the door, took the bottle out and set it on the table. Charles took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with milk.  
He watched Erik from the corner of his eye. Was he wearing anything under his bathrobe ? He couldn’t see any sign of pajamas in its V-neck. If he reached out, he could touch his naked chest and…distracted Charles accidently knocked the glass over and spilt the milk over Erik’s hands. He pulled them quickly away.  
“Oh, ups, I’m so sorry, I’ll clean that.” Charles fetched a kitchen towel and handed it to him.  
“ It’s just milk,… as long as you don’t spill the beans on me.”, Erik joked.  
“Are there any to spill ?”  
“Tell me, telepath.”  
Erik had noticed that Charles was dreamingly staring at him. Sometimes he wished to be a telepath as well, so he could know people’s thoughts. Those looks…it wasn’t the first time that he noticed them. He wondered, whether Charles knew his secret or was he as innocent as his huge blue eyes indicated ? Could he let him know without endangering their beginning friendship ?  
He watched him wiping the milk of the table with the towel. Charles felt his eyes on him and looked up. Their eyes met. He didn’t move, like being hypnotized by his gaze, when Erik ran his fingertip over his cheek to his lips.  
“You got milk there,” Erik breathed out.  
He gently parted his lips and pushed his finger into his mouth. Charles thought that he was dreaming, Erik wouldn’t do this for real, would he ? But the finger in his mouth felt very real to him. He closed his eyes and sucked on it.  
Erik’s breath went faster. The sight of his ruby red lips closed around his finger made him moan. He was right about him, his feelings for him weren’t limited to friendship.  
“How did you find out ?” Charles telepathic voice asked.  
Erik smiled. “Like I know a lab rat when I see one.”  
Terrified, he let go of his finger.“Do I look like it ?”  
“You never told anybody, right ?”  
“I can never do that.”  
“Why not ?”  
“Why not ??? For most people, it’s difficult enough to accept my mutation, if they find out. Why give them more reasons to reject me ?” Charles said angrily.  
“You talk about rejection ? I saw people being murdered for that reason and yet, I’m not willing to let them oppress me any longer.” Erik hissed “I have nothing to hide, not anymore,”. As if to put emphasis on his words, he untied the belt of his bathrobe and let the fabric slide back.  
Suddenly, Charles was very quiet, staring like hypnotized at his naked body. Erik reached out for his hand and placed it on his naked chest. He could feel his heart beating fast. Then he stepped closer, forcing Charles to walk backwards until he touched the cupboard with his back. Now, Erik’s body was pressed against his. He couldn’t walk away, was trapped.  
“Do you remember the last time when we were that close, the moment I pulled you out of the water ? Since that day, I couldn’t forget what your body felt like. I wanted to touch you, hug you and…”, he swallowed and took a deep breath “…you know.”  
Erik tilted his head and started to kiss his neck, while his other hand slid down his side towards the waistband of his pajamas pants. Charles gasped, when he touched his naked skin. His breath went faster and faster. Suddenly, he caught Erik’s wrist. “No.” he panted. 

Charles’ telepathic voice cried with anger and pain. “You’re perfect from head to toe. I’ve never been kissed or touched by anybody. I have your image on my mind...when… I don’t deserve you, you’re too good for me. How could anybody love somebody like me ? I can read it in their minds, while they are smiling at me, they despise me at the same time behind that mask, calling me a spoiled rich child, a nerd, a pervert…even my own mother rejected me, but I’ll have to do my best to please all of you. Sometimes I just hate them for making me do it and I hate myself for always falling for it again and again.”  
“Charles”, Erik exhaled with shock and surprise. “this isn’t true, you can’t be serious. I never expected that coming from you, especially you.”  
Tears were running down his cheeks.”Yes, I always have to be the strong one, who turns the other cheek , the optimistic one, who cheers up everybody, but what about me ???,” he yelled, then he sobbed. “Who cares about me ?”  
Erik wrapped his arms around him. “I do. I don’t want to hurt you. You told me, you knew about Shaw. I was afraid, that you might be the same. Just being interested in my abilities and my value to whatever project you were working on.”  
“How could you think that about me ?”Charles was indignant by that comparison.  
“He wasn’t a monster right from the beginning or at least I couldn’t tell. But I tried to forget all about it for many years. I don’t want to open old wounds. Seeing him again wasn’t easy for me.”  
“Sure, I understand that.” So Erik still couldn’t trust him or anybody.  
Erik kissed his wet and flushed cheeks. “I want you,” he whispered into his ear.  
“Then have me,” he replied cold. “I’m all yours.”  
Erik sighed with frustration. “I don’t like it when you’re like that.”  
“No ?, how do I have to be for you, so you can like me ?” he mocked.  
Erik grabbed his chin and pushed his head back against the cupboard. “Don’t tease me. You know what happens, when I get angry,” he hissed between gritted teeth.  
“What ?...Will you bend some spoons and ruin my cooking pots ?” Charles laughed without humor. He knew how violent Erik could get and he wanted him to be rough. He felt, he needed a punishment right now for being ungrateful and selfish. Being rich and gifted should be enough for a person.  
The next thing he felt was like being hit by a stone, which made him see stars. He groaned with pain, when his head hit the cupboard.  
When the world stopped being blurred, he saw Erik kneeling next to him on the floor holding a wet towel against his temple.  
“What…happened ?”, he murmured.  
“I’m so sorry for that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”  
He looked sincerely crushed, but Charles knew better. Erik enjoyed hitting him, although he wouldn’t admit it. It eased the fear, panic and paranoia in his mind, that was caused by him. But Erik was exactly the person that he needed.  
“Ah..it’s ok, I just bumped my head a little too hard. I should be more careful the next time I turn my head.”  
“If you say so…”  
Charles got up from the kitchen floor. His knees felt weak, therefore he supported himself. Erik wrapped his arm around his waist. Again, he felt his body pushed against his own, causing an urge to touch Charles, to tear his clothes of and…  
“I’ll better accompany you to your bedroom. Just in case you need something.”  
After a short walk, they reached Charles’ bedroom and entered.  
Erik pulled the cover off the large bed.  
Charles grinned. “Let me tell you a joke that I heard once; a Jewish Family and a German soldier are sitting in a train. They start to talk about religion and the many rules a Jew has to follow and that it’s not always easy and sometimes frustrating. After a while the Soldier gets a piece of meat out of his travelling bag and offers to share it with that family, but they refuse to take it, because it’s not kosher. Then he gets out a piece of bread and cheese and offers to share as well, but again, it’s not kosher. Then the soldier asked, whether there are exceptions from those rules as well and the father of the family answers, that they were allowed to eat it, if somebody forced them at gunpoint. Quickly, the soldier draws his weapon and point it at the family. While they are eating, the father whispers to the mother, why hadn’t he drawn his gun while we were talking about the meat ???”  
Charles laughed hard, but Erik shook his head. “My experiences with German soldiers aren’t positive, as you know.”  
Charles looked at the bed , then at Erik.“Ignore the context and focus on the message. What does this tell you about us ?”  
“That you spent too much time in England and their sense of humor rubbed off on you ?”  
Now, Charles shook his head and laughed again. “You are not kosher to me, either, my friend.”  
But then, the penny dropped and it dawned on Erik. This was so Charles’ way…never straight forward. He turned around, looking for something he could use. There were Charles` clothes neatly folded lying on the armchair next to his bed, a navy blue tie on top. He picked it up and wrapped it around his wrists. Charles didn’t say a word, his eyes carefully following every movement of Erik’s hands while he fixed his hands in front of his chest.  
“Lay down on the bed.”, he ordered. “now, you can’t run away from me, anymore. You’re all mine and if you speak or disobey, I’ll punish you. And no telepathy ! You’ll stay out of my mind. ” He wagged his finger at him in a no-no-gesture.  
Charles nodded and stretched himself on the bed. He was thrilled about what he would want to do with him. How far would he go ?

TBC

Erik took off his bathrobe and lied next to him. Charles’s glanced up and down his muscular body, but didn’t move. Then Erik tilted his head and kissed his lips, while his hand slid down over Charles inner thigh. When it reached its aim, he moaned against his lips. He rubbed a few more times over the fabric of his pajamas, before he pulled them down. His hand touched Charles naked skin, before he wrapped it around his cock. Charles gasped and closed his eyes. Suddenly, Erik felt as if he had been touched, although this was impossible, because his own cock was rubbing against Charles thigh and neither he nor Charles could have touched it. He moved his hand and felt it again. Was there a ghost in the bedroom ? Charles grinned with closed eyes, when he sensed Erik’s confusion, who noticed his amusement. “You did something !”, he panted. “Didn’t we say no telepathy ?”  
The answer was a rather intense sensation of pleasure, that made him curl up and moan. 

“I think, you need to be punished for that”, he panted. Then he sat up on the edge of the bed. “Bent down over my lab, so I can spank you.”  
Charles obeyed and placed himself over Erik’s thighs, then he felt his hand softly patting his butt. “You got a fine ass.” He felt being pinched “But a little pale, in my opinion”, he mused “I’ll take care of that.” Suddenly, without further warning, the hand, that caressed him a second ago, slapped him hard. Charles gasped. Pictures were forming in his mind’s eye. A heavy wooden desk, his fingers curled around its edge.”Charles Fancies Xavier…” said a stern male voice in his head. The principal’s office, he recognized. A second hit, that was even harder, a third one…that made him yelp. “We found those books in your locker.” One more hit. “Venus in fur , The picture of Dorian Grey, it points into a certain direction…” Charles moaned. “A direction, that we don’t encourage at this school…I’ll have to punish you. Spare the rod, spoil the child,“ echoed the voice in his head. Charles felt, that he was getting closer and closer …

Erik looked down on him, his little telepath, so innocent on the outside, but even more dirty inside. He could pull his hair, slap his face, come all over his body, make him suck his dick, fuck his ass and he wouldn’t be able to prevent it. Or he could deny him anything.  
Charles squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the next hit, but nothing happened. “More ! I want more !” he panted, but Erik grinned. “No, I think you have had enough for now. Repeat, “I’m a dirty whore !”  
He gave him a questioning look.  
“Repeat my words as I told you ! “ he said cold.  
“I’m a dirty whore.” Charles mumbled.  
“Louder, please, I can’t hear you.”  
“I’m a dirty whore !”  
“Louder !”  
“I’m a dirty whore !, I’m a diiiirtttty whooore !!! I’m a diiiirrrty whooore !!!”  
Erik tried hard not to smile, although he never expected those words coming from an Oxford Professor. Charles took self humiliation to a whole new level and seemed to be enjoying it.  
“Yes, I’m a pervert !, I’m a god damned pervert !!! I want to be fuuucked ! I want to be fuuucked ! Erik, fuck me ! fuuuck, me !!! I’m all yours ! I want you to fuck me until I’m sore, I want to suck your dick ! I want your dick, god damn it ! …Please ?” He turned his head and gave him a suppliant look, that was met by his cold grey eyes.  
“You, Sir, are a piece of shit and got nothing to ask from me ! I’m your Master, you’re my servant. First you have to learn how to address me in a proper way ! To you, it’s Master Erik or Mister Lehnsherr ! Get down on your knees in front of me !” he yelled.  
Charles, very quiet now, slid of his lap and kneeled between his spread legs. His eyes fixated his cock.  
“What are you staring at ? Did I allow you to stare at me ? ”  
“No, Sir.” Charles lowered his eyes.

Erik’s breath went faster. Again there was this sudden urge to grab him, but much stronger than the first time. He would have liked to take him right on the floor, fuck him hard, but he had to control himself. He wasn’t allowed to be weak and give in to his needs, no matter how seductive and tempting Charles looked. The telepath wasn’t supposed to be in control .  
Charles felt his inner struggle, the cat playing with the mouse before making the final kill. It amazed him, how easily he took what he wanted without any moral inhibition. There was no feeling of guilt or responsibility, only his need and a drive to satisfy it. Why couldn’t he be the same ? Why did he need a permission or an invitation first ? He knew, he had the power to take what he wanted without it, but his conscience wouldn’t allow it. Erik denied him something , offered resistance ? A vision formed in his mind’s eye; Erik laying naked and paralyzed face down on the bed, himself on top of him, moving his body like a puppet, mind over matter.:

He felt Erik’s eyes on him.

>tbc


	2. Chapter 2

New part :

He felt Erik’s eyes on him. “What are you waiting for ? Do it, just do it !” Charles felt himself being pulled up onto the bed and pushed into the mattress. Erik was now on top of him, holding his body down with his weight and pushing his legs apart. He reached under Charles’ hips and started to spread some lub over his skin, that had magically appeared on the bed. His fingers caressed and teased him. “Oh, Erik …” he moaned. Then he felt his lips closing around his cock and starting to suck. “This is…” Charles gasped. Erik stopped and gave him an evil grin. “I think I know a good method to keep you from talking…” He turned around and positioned himself with his hips first over Charles’s face. “Now, use your lips on me” he breathed. Charles gasped again, took a deep breath and then it was Erik’s turn to gasp with surprise. He had expected some innocent licks, but this was far from innocent. Like that, he wouldn’t last long. Charles must have noticed and went slower, while he started to suck him, again. Now, Charles was close, he could feel his cock twitching in his mouth and prepared to swallow, if necessary. He felt the other ones body getting tense and a moment later, shots of hot liquid ran over his tongue and dripped back on Charles’ cock. 

“Oh..I’m sorry, if I …ehm…” mumbled Charles. “Never mind. But now let me fill you up with something. ” Erik turned around and kneeled between Charles wide spread legs. He put some lub on his fingers, like he had done before, but now carefully pushed them inside. Charles tried to relax as much as possible, when he felt his fingers curling inside of him. The anticipation of Erik’s cock made him hard again. Carefully, he removed his fingers, when he thought, that he was ready for more and pushed his hips forwards.

After some thrusts, his breath went faster and faster. “Erik…”….”please…make me come !” Erik enjoyed seeing him like that; eyes closed, hands still tight up, chewing on his lower lip…He touched his cock and moved his hand according to the rhythm of his hips, while he felt his own orgasm built up. Just a few more thrusts and he sank down on Charles’ body, who arched his back under him. Catching their breath, they laid on the bed.  
When Charles opened his eyes again, it was already dawning outside. At first, he thought of having had a rather vivid dream, but looking at the messy sheets with his pajamas and tie tangled in the bedcover, he had to believe that that night with Erik was for real. He must have gotten up earlier.  
After having had a shower, Charles put on his running suit and went outside. He hadn’t run far, when Raven turned around a corner. “Charles, are you all right ?” she asked curiously. “Yes, why do you ask ?” He was confused. “Well, I thought I heard you screaming and arguing with Erik all night long. There was a lot of noise coming from your room. I think, you were yelling something about being a dirty whore or something ?!” Charles turned from pale to red. “Oh, dear, well…yes,..that… we had a little argument, but whore ?... ehm , no, no it was more like a metaphor,… meaning something like…ehm… saying, that I was an idiot. That’s all.” He smiled, but wished for the ground to open up and swallow him. “Well, then…” she smiled back at him and continued her training course, as did Charles.

Moments later, he almost ran into Erik, who was stretching.  
“Did you sleep well ?” he asked.  
“Very funny, I just had an embarrassing encounter with Raven, who must have heard us last night. Maybe the window wasn’t shut well, but this mustn’t happen again. Thank God, she thought that we argued.”  
“Well, didn’t we argue ?” he teased.  
“I’ll have dinner with Moira, today. You can meet me in my study after nine. Nobody interrupts me, while I’m reading. Maybe, we could play some chess.”  
“Moira ? You have a date with her, right ?”  
“Well, I wouldn’t call it a date, but I promised to see her and don’t want to hurt her feelings by canceling it.” In fact, Charles was more looking forward to see Erik that evening, but if he seemed like dating her to his students, the better for both of them. Nobody would suspect anything else than friendship between them or start any rumors.  
Erik wondered. Charles didn’t seem to think of ending his whatever beginning relationship with her. How important was he to him ?  
“Kiss me.” he said.  
Charles looked shocked. “No! not here where all the students can see it ! They mustn’t know about us.”  
“But you wouldn’t hesitate to kiss her in public ?”  
“That is different.”  
“I thought we were free to do want ever we like.”  
“Maybe the society isn’t ready for this, as long as it struggles to accept mutants.”  
“Then we must make a difference.”  
“That’s what I’m trying to archive with this school. But I mustn’t endanger its success by my personal feelings. Which parents would send their children to a school run by two sexual perverts ? ”  
“I see.”

The future.  
Unfortunately not the friendly place that Charles had hoped for. Despite separating from Erik, after he had killed the Nazi Shaw and started his brotherhood of mutants, his school was unsuccessful. The world was occupied with the war in Vietnam and the constant tension between the Soviet Union and the United States, known as the cold war. Then mutants became the new enemy.

Charles and Erik were trapped in a cave, while being constantly attacked by Sentinels . In a desperate attempt, they had tried to send Wolverine back in time in order to prevent this future.

“So this is it.” Erik said cynically. “At least we will die together, because we couldn’t live together. Any famous last words, Charles ?”  
Charles gave him a sad look. “Do you remember the day after our first night, when you asked me to kiss you in public ? “  
“Yes, I do.”  
“I should have done it. Damn. If we had stayed together, we could have fought this threat in time. Instead, we fought each other. I could never forgive you taking Raven away from me. She should have stayed with me, not you. For her own best. To me, it always felt like a mean trick, leaving me for a woman that you don’t love, because I didn’t break up with Myra.”

“I didn’t make her go away, it was you Charles, with your “Moira is my new girlfriend”-show. She had feelings for you, but couldn’t stand seeing you together with her, so she left for the next best opportunity, which was following me. She loved you Charles, but couldn’t have you, neither could I, therefore I didn’t reject her, but I should have. That relationship was a big mistake. She thought of you, when looking at me and so did I.”  
Charles couldn’t believe what he just heard. He never wanted to ruin anybodies life and never saw the situation from this point of view. But Erik was right. He was to blame, he was responsible. “Erik, I’m sorry…I really didn’t see that. I didn’t mean to reject or hurt you, all those years, I felt that you were the one ,who let me down. I promised Raven to never read her mind, but if I had done so, I would have known better and acted differently.”  
“I never wanted you to know, that you had broken my heart. I didn’t want you to have power over me.” Erik said.  
Charles and Erik kissed, then the world disappeared in a big flash of light. 

The present.  
Charles, now in his sixties, rolled down a corridor in the living area of the school. One of the doors wasn’t closed, so he could hear two of the new male students, who shared that room, argue. They could neither see nor hear him from their position.  
“That can’t be possible. You must misunderstand something. He’s not that kind of person.”  
“What kind of person ?”  
“You know what I mean. Such a pervert, who does such things to a man. And his supposed to be boyfriend is a convicted criminal and spent a lot of time in a psychiatric hospital. In my opinion, that’s where they belong it’s a crime and against nature.”  
“Like mutation?”  
“No, more like a disease, maybe doctors or psychiatrists can cure it or turn somebody’s twisted mind straight. I mean, why was he in there, if not to be cured ?”  
“He was treated because of his traumatic past, he survived the Holocaust and later moved to Israel. It’s all in his book that he wrote while being in prison and the hospital. Even my parents read it, when it came out in the Eighties. It was called “Control and punish. The necessity of the prison.” You should read it.”  
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t want to read something written by a freak.”  
“But you are eager to go to a school for freaks, that’s what we are to them, run by a freak and at the same time, you deny to be a freak as well ? Where is the logic in that ?”  
“I am not a freak, I am a mutant and I am better than the average people, who don’t have special abilities. ”  
“Why does that make you any better ?”  
“Because I can do things, that they can’t do, so they need me.”

Quietly, Charles moved away. At first, he was angry to hear such prejudice coming from one of his mutant students, who really should know better after being at that school. On a more personal level, he felt hurt, because that student disliked him, although he shouldn’t mind after all those years. Still, not everybody would accept his sexual orientation, although the general acceptance in society had grown. But then, the teacher part of his personality got the upper hand. He finally had to talk about it in class.

Erik, who travelled around the world, being an author and freelance journalist, never denied anything about himself; the conviction, the mental disease, his bisexuality and his relationship to Charles, who visited him in prison until his case was revised and the prison sentence due to terrorism was turned into a stay in a psychiatric hospital, after him being diagnosed with a paranoid personality disorder caused by his traumatic past. Ever since, they spent as much time as their time allowed together, which Charles felt was too little, due to his and Erik’s duties. But it seemed that Erik needed more room and distance, otherwise the relationship wouldn’t work.

His sister Raven, now proud grandmother of two healthy mutants, visited him every Sunday. Sometimes, he wondered why Wolverine, who was anything but a marriage counselor, had helped him, Erik and Raven to get along with each other, after the crisis with that Sentinels was over. He had been the first one to notice the true nature of the relationship between him and Erik, although he never expected Wolverine to be open minded. When he told Raven, she seemed relieved and happy for them, but avoided meeting Erik for a very long time, as if she felt guilty for joining him and leaving Charles. After a while, the relationship between both was no longer a secret to anybody at the school.

The following morning, Charles moved into his sociology class, holding nine different small plastic bags, filled with small sheets of paper on his lap. He passed them to the students in the front row.  
“Please pick a sheet out of each bag which you think describes you, stick it to your shirt and pass it on to your neighbor.”  
The students mumbled, while reading and taking out the sheets. Some hesitated to pick a sheet, others reached out quickly for one of the bags. Charles gave them time to chose carefully, while he picked his little sheets and put them on his jacket.  
His version read : man, American, white, mutant, democrat, atheist, rich, homosexual, disabled  
He was curious about the reaction of the students to the last adjective.  
After a while, everybody had his or her shirt decorated with the little stickers. Charles read a lot of mutant, American, white, Christian, but also some Jew, Muslim, black, poor, communist, Hispanic , Asian, although the school was international, it reflected the white-Anglo-Saxon middle-class majority of the U.S.A.  
“Do you notice something, when looking at your fellow students ?”  
A girl put her hand up. “Everybody is a mutant.”  
“No surprise at a school for mutants.” a boy said. The class laughed.  
“But here are only few non-Americans, like Asians.” said another boy.  
“So it is about numbers ?” asked Charles.  
“Yes, somehow, it feels a bit bad, if you are the only one with a particular sticker in a class, when everybody else has the same sticker. Like being the only black girl in the neighborhood.” said the Afro-American girl.  
“Why ?” asked Charles.  
“Because the others feel stronger and better, because they are together, like in a gang, but the other one is alone.” said that girl.  
“So we can say that a majority has power over a minority.” Charles concluded. Then he typed something on his pad and the words “Minority-Majority-Power” popped up on the computer screen behind him.  
“What else ?”  
“You can’t change some of those aspects, even if you want to, like the color of your skin or whether you’re a man or a woman.” said the Afro-American girl.  
“But you can move to another country, learn a new language and get a new nationality.”, said a boy, who spoke with an East-European accent.  
Charles typed “innate vs. acquired”.  
A boy put up his finger. “Some mutants can hide their mutation, but others can’t. Then people won’t call them names.”  
Charles typed “visible vs. invisible”.  
“Some of this adjectives are considered to be something negative or can be negative in a particular context, so you don’t want to admit it or it’s a taboo to mention it.” Her eyes moved to the “homosexual” sticker on Charles’ jacket. At the same time, he noticed, that she didn’t wear a “heterosexual” sticker or anything revering to her own sexual orientation.  
Then she looked up at him again. “You know, what I mean.” Their eyes met and they held each other’s gaze for longer than necessary.  
Suddenly, the class was silent, while all eyes turned at Charles.  
He started to feel uncomfortable and thought that it was his turn to say something in order to ease the situation, but then a voice from the background said. “See, Ali, I was right about him.” It was the boy, who had argued with his roommate.  
The class laughed and the tension was gone.  
“Why is it such a big thing that somebody is gay ?” asked a girl genuinely innocent. “Can’t we just love who we love ?”  
“But the bible says, that only man and women should love each other, anything else is wrong.” said a boy, who wore a Christian sticker.  
“God and the bible is nonsense for children. I can’t take that seriously. Marx called it all lies, made up in order to keep poor people calm. Opium to the people, you know.” said the boy from Eastern-Europe.  
“But God created us to be equal.”  
“You’re a pagan !”  
The students were yelling and screaming at each other, now.

Charles waved his hands. “Back to our lesson which is social identities and discrimination, today ! Like we just noticed, every one of us has characteristics that might make us targets of negative discrimination. Nobody wants to be treated worse than everybody else, but yet we do it. Why ? Because we are better than others ? If you really want to be better, then you got the responsibility to be better by acting as a good example for tolerance. Try to put yourself in the position of the other person, try to understand his or her emotions, you wouldn’t want to be discriminated, neither would he or she. And nobody would want to live in a climate filled with fear of being different. And I won’t tolerate any kind of discrimination at this school.”

“Have you ever been called names, because you’re gay ? Or didn’t people notice at all ?” asked a girl.

“Well, in the sixties, before the summer of love with its love, peace and rock’n’roll attitude happened, it was a taboo to talk about sexuality in public at all, especially about homosexuality, which was even behind closed doors a problem. So no, nobody called me something insulting in public, like today’s high school kids do every minute. But I’m sure that people talked behind my back, when they felt unobserved. It’s not the talking or gossiping out of curiosity , but the spreading of negative rumors that may come with it, like the one that a gay person might also be a pedophile or a rapist, so you can’t trust him etc. Heterosexual teachers or men don’t get accused that easily. If somebody simply dislikes me for being the way I am, well, I think I got to live with that like everybody else.”

After the lesson was over and the students had left, Ali stayed in the class room. He walked towards Charles’s desk, who looked up. “I wanted to apologize for being one of the people, who talked bad about you behind your back. I think that you are a good person and won’t harm anybody. I just can’t imagine that somebody likes to have sex with a man, like I can’t understand that people like eating pork or drinking alcohol. I wouldn’t want to put my cock into somebody’s ass that sounds disgusting and if I think of all the sh..I mean crap..ehm, you know, inside, it makes my stomach turn. Ick…and it must hurt there, bah…but never mind, if you like that…good luck.”  
Now, Charles was shocked and disgusted, trying not to pull a face or shiver in disgust while listening and feeling what the student felt with his special abilities. Those feelings of horror, terror and disgust matched an abuse situation, but not consensual sex. He once felt such emotions in Erik’s mind, while he remembered being with Shaw at the concentration camp. Did all male teenagers feel like that when thinking about gay sex ? Or was this boy an exception ? If not, it would explain the dislike for the mere idea of it among heterosexual men.  
“Well, the way you described it…neither could I see its appeal. You made it sound like something horrible, that it isn’t. Maybe you’re too young to understand sexual relationships and in a few years, your ideas will be different.”  
He smiled and sent a positive image about romantic kissing between two men into his mind. He just had to correct this horrible stuff in his head by giving him a different idea of a gay relationship.  
“I see you next Monday, bye !” the student said.  
“Sometimes, even I can see things from a different point of view and learn something.” He mumbled to himself.

In the evening, he called Erik over Skype from his office. He looked a bit tired, but smiled back at him. In the background, he saw a tin cup of coffee with a spoon in it, hovering behind his right shoulder. The spoon moved in circles.  
“Charles, you seem disturbed , did anything happen ?”  
“I am, believe me, I am. Today, I talked about social identities and discrimination to my sociology class and included homosexuality to the labels.”  
“Wow, Charles, now I’m the shocked one, how come you being so brave ? I’m impressed.” he joked. The spoon stopped moving.  
“I expected worse reactions coming from the students, but they took it rather relaxed, except one boy, who talked later to me and had the most horrible images about sex between two men in his head that I ever encountered.”  
“Maybe you should stay out of people’s minds, like I told you…” The spoon moved again.  
“I couldn’t prevent that from happening, he was thinking too loud…”  
“I can’t read minds, but I don’t have to, when I’m out with some heterosexual colleges. They got the funniest ideas about gay men and lesbian women, it’s amusing.”  
“This wasn’t funny, it was disgusting about …well…crap on the penis and disgusting things about body fluids…and smell…really off putting…”  
“Oh, Charles, you’re such a romantic, it’s all about flowers with you.” he laughed “but seriously, I’m not into whatever the latest sh…I mean.. kink might be today, but many heterosexual men feel like that.”  
“And I found out that water sports isn’t about boats …”  
Erik chuckled. “You really didn’t know that one ? at your age ? what happened to the Charles who liked to wear dresses or make me ! wear them ? ”  
“Maybe, he finally grew up ?”  
“Boring, I always liked that secret, crazy side of yours.”  
“I love you and good night.”  
“I knew it !” he laughed “and sleep well, too.”  
Charles switched off the computer. Live couldn’t be any better.

The end

 

Actions


End file.
